Maximum availability of a driving range for a motor vehicle depends upon, among other things, the environmental conditions around the motor vehicle. The driving range for a motor vehicle is intended in particular to depend on a remaining amount of energy, such as an amount of fuel in a motor vehicle having a combustion engine, or such as the energy stored in a battery of an electric vehicle. Because the environmental conditions, which depend on the position of the motor vehicle and/or on the weather, can be constantly changing, the previously determined driving range can change accordingly.
To adjust the driving range for the motor vehicle, which depends on the environmental conditions around the motor vehicle, it is known to determine the ambient temperature around the motor vehicle by means of in-vehicle temperature sensors. A change in the power demand for the vehicle, which depends on the change in temperature, can be deduced. The disadvantage of this method is that, especially at the beginning of a trip in a motor vehicle, the temperature sensors are correcting a sensed value at specific intervals in time until the value approaches a constant value. As a result, the actual driving range can only be determined following a certain duration after the beginning of the trip. Thus, there is a delay in time.
To determine the driving range for a motor vehicle in a reliable manner, DE 10 2009 048 821 A1 proposes a method for establishing the range for a motor vehicle having an energy storage device used for supplying motive power. In this case, the method takes two different parameters into account. One of the two parameters characterizes a status parameter for the energy storage device. The other parameter is obtained from information relating to weather and other factors.
Described in DE 10 2009 016 869 A1 is a method for operating a vehicle that comprises an electrical drive means and at least one rechargeable and exchangeable electrical energy unit. In this method, a range for the vehicle is calculated on the basis of the state of charge of the electrical energy unit. The method further provides a weather information device for receiving and evaluating weather information as well as a weather data sensing device for sensing weather data. It is, in this way, possible to refer to the weather data to calculate the range.
A method for determining a driving range for a motor vehicle is evident from DE 10 2011 108 385 B3, in which the driving range is determined on the basis of vehicle-dependent and vehicle-independent parameter values. The vehicle-dependent and vehicle-independent parameter values are recorded by the motor vehicle and transmitted to a server.
A method for estimating the range for a vehicle having an electrical drive is evident from DE 10 2014 204 308 A1. The method bases the range estimate on an energy consumption model for the vehicle, the remaining amount of energy available in the vehicle's energy storage device, and a road database. The range estimate takes into account an expected route of travel for the vehicle and location-specific environmental data along the expected route of travel.
A method for monitoring at least one sensor of a vehicle is described in DE 10 2013 225 563 A1. The method compares values measured by the sensors with values measured by at least one comparison vehicle.
A method for determining a range for a vehicle comprising an electric motor as a drive means is evident from DE 10 2011 116 115 A1. The method initially determines or specifies a route of travel for the vehicle. A further method step determines the recuperation events taking place along the route of travel. Finally, the range is determined as a function of the route of travel, the recuperation events, and the environmental conditions along the route of travel.
The disadvantage of a method of this kind is that the data, which are obtained from a server device, are only recorded by the server device on a regional level and contain no location-specific information.
The features and advantages of the present embodiments will become more apparent from the detailed description set forth below when taken in conjunction with the drawing, in which like reference characters identify corresponding elements throughout. In the drawing, like reference numbers generally indicate identical, functionally similar, and/or structurally similar elements.